M. 'Dippoolbank'
A sturdy cultivar of garden origin which probably has M. baileyi as one of its parents.
Raised by: A. Brash, pre-2003. Introduced by: A. Jamieson, 2003.
Named by: E. Stevens, 2015. Registered by: E. Stevens, 2015.
Flowering: May-June: Sky-blue, bowl-shaped, lateral facing flowers. The petals, which overlap extensively, are broadly ovate to rounded with an undulate margin.
Emerging foliage: Bright green paddle-shaped leaves with their lower surfaces densely covered with furry ginger-brown hairs.
Mature foliage: The leaf blades are oblong or elliptic-oblong on long petioles and their margins are irregularly incised with serrate-dentate teeth. The leaf base is truncate and the apex sub-obtuse.
Fruit capsule: Broadly ellipsoid, covered with spreading pale straw-coloured bristles with white tips. The broad style is sometimes twisted and the stigma is rounded.
Etymology: Named after the garden of Alan Brash who raised this cultivar from seed purchased from a garden centre.